{"id":667649,"date":"2026-01-01T21:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667649\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T21:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:44:18","slug":"this-is-better-than-the-maldives-steve-evans-reflects-on-first-bristol-rovers-win-as-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667649\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This is better than the Maldives\u2019 – Steve Evans reflects on first Bristol Rovers win as head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Bristol Rovers signing “imminent” as the Gas win first league game since September<\/p>\n

19:07, 01 Jan 2026Updated 19:28, 01 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\" Fabrizio
\nFabrizio Cavegn of Bristol Rovers celebrates scoring their sides third goal with team-mates(Image: Michael Zemanek\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Bristol Rovers head coach Steve Evans was delighted with his team\u2019s performance as they secured their first league win since September and moved ahead of their opponents Shrewsbury Town, thanks to a 3-0 win at The Croud Meadow.<\/p>\n

After an hour of few chances, Fabrizio Cavegn scored a hat-trick in the last 27 minutes to secure a crucial three points for the Gas – lifting them up to 20th and four points clear of the League Two relegation zone.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bristol Rovers end winless run in style with Fabrizio Cavegn hat-trick<\/a>READ MORE: Forest Green Rovers sign Merthyr Town attacker Ricardo Rees<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a first win in 14 games – 12 of them defeats – and much needed against a side in the relegation battle with the Gas. After the victory, Evans said: \u201cYeah, I think they are [Rovers fans] the important people, aren’t they in every football club. You know, there’s a great man who lost his life, who was once player and manager at Glasgow Celtic and he said, “It’s a cause” and Bristol Rovers<\/a>, is a cause in a big city.<\/p>\n

(Image: Michael Zemanek\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

“So it’s a cause. So for us to produce a three-nil away victory and give those supporters that travelled and the ones at home, listening to the BBC and listening to the commentary and thinking, wow, what a win that is. And it’s a great win. But for me, when the third goal went in, I must admit, I did think, this is better than the Maldives. This is better than the Maldives. My wife will still be crying that she swapped bikinis for rain jackets and all sorts in the last week, but yeah, it meant everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn’t down after Bromley. I think the performance was really special, really good, but obviously, Shaq [Forde] gets sent off. And then obviously, Barnet I was really down. I don’t think we really produced anything of note that I look back on and say that’s a Steve Evans team, but I’ve seen it today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the one special thing for me, apart from Fab\u2019s hat-trick, was young Shaq Forde, who was devastated, devastated after Bromley, sat in my off office, shedding tears and [a] very humble kid, and I said to him today, you answer it by performance – you don’t answer it by talking, because you’ve let yourself down, the team down, everyone down. Performance brings you back round. I think the fans will be driving back to Bristol thinking Forde was brilliant today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Now that 2026 is here, Rovers have a month to add to their squad, with Evans asked about the upcoming window. The 63-year-old revealed that one signing is \u201cimminent,\u201d as himself and director of football Ricky Martin look to add players to the squad early in the month. He said: \u201cYeah, listen, we’re meeting some players tomorrow. I’ve met some players. Yesterday, three separate players, Ricky was involved in two of those meetings. We\u2019re really keen to help the group. We’re not necessarily saying people have to move out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I said, the meeting I had with the owners, fantastic. People can believe it or not believe it, but that meeting was really good. They said, we’ll increase the budget, which is already third best in the league, to help you secure it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I knew that before I came in, because that was the type of challenge before I came in. I think if you’re a young immature manager, you rush into the job and you think, I’m not getting any help here. I said when I’d assessed Rovers that I’m going to need some help if I come in. But the owners have been absolutely sterling with their backing.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Michael Zemanek\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

When pressed on whether the new signings will be permanents or loans, Evans added: \u201cBoth, both. If it’s the right player, they can be permanent, it can be loan and he can come for a week if he wants, if he helps us win. There’ll be a mixture of permanents and loans. We’d like to make the majority of them permanent. Some of the loan boys will come with a view to a permanent, because we want to see them in an environment and our environment is very good. Everything here is ticked to be a club, which shouldn’t be in League Two, but we’re in League Two for a reason – on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The 63-year-old was asked by Bristol Live<\/a> about the identity of the potential new incoming, with the head coach saying, “It’s imminent, he’s a good player and hopefully we can get that done in the next 48 hours.”<\/p>\n

Next up for Rovers is a trip to Barrow in three days. After the away game against Barrow, the Gas have a 13-day break until their next league clash, with a round of 16 Vertu Trophy tie against Plymouth Argyle to come on 13th January.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018The intention at the minute is that he\u2019ll be coming back\u2019 – Steve Evans gives Isaac Hutchinson verdict after Barnet defeat<\/a>READ MORE: Isaac Hutchinson: ‘I want to see out the season here’ as recall decision looms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Bristol Rovers signing “imminent” as the Gas win first league game since September 19:07, 01 Jan 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2707,748,393,82550,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-667649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-rovers-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-football-league-2","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115822032697123563","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}